


Nora's verse

by Bgal2



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, update character and relationship tags as the need calls for it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21701794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bgal2/pseuds/Bgal2
Summary: Nora a simple girl, living a not so simple life. granted, she's not like anyone around here. Right now, she's focused on becoming a crystal gem like most of her family.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Gem cam

“I think they still sell them here!”

Sadie perked up at the voice, looking over to see two of her regulars coming in.

The first was a small, chubby girl around the age of eleven. She had long, dark brown hair, black eyes, peachy pink-toned skin, freckles. She was dressed in a salmon pink t-shirt that had a gold star emblem in the center, cuffed blue jeans, and red rain boots. She was holding a video camera, the hand it was in was sporting a light pink bracelet with a pink star and a white heart charm on it, and looking for things to film with it. Sadie didn’t mind that the girl was so entranced with her camera.

The second was slightly taller than the first and appeared more slender than her as well. Her hair was black and short with bangs that hid her right eye, which were green. She had dark green, almost brownish skin, and a green gem on her right cheek. She was dressed in a pink t-shirt, a single sleeved red tank top that had a fraction of an emblem of a green star near the bottom of her pink t-shirt. Her dark grey skirt had the rest of the green star emblem that was over light black tights and grey shoes. She gave Sadie a slight, subtle smile as she glanced over the selection the donut shop has to offer.

“Hey, Nora. Emerald. What brings you two here?”

The first girl perked up, looking up from her camera. “Oh! Hey, Sadie! Emerald wants some cookie cats, so I decided to come with her. Also, I got a new video camera!” Her eyes shown bright with stars when she mentioned the video camera.

Emerald perked up when she spotted what she was looking for. Letting out a happy squeal, she went over to the Cookie Cat minifridge, nearly emptying it in one armful.

“I decided to film about my family once we head back to the temple so I can test what this baby can do,” Nora gave her friend a light smile. “Emerald and the other gems have a bunch of interesting stories to tell and places they’ve been, not to mention the ones they have here, and I want to keep all the memories that come from them!”

“Wow! Sounds like you’ve got some big plans with that camera.”

At that, Sadie’s co-worker, Lars, gave an eye roll and a scoff at her statement, surprisingly putting in the effort to make a comment. His arms were crossed over his chest as he was leaned away from the counter. “Like anyone would wanna be in your dumb movie. Or care about some weird stories.”

Nora’s eyes narrowed in annoyance towards Lars. She lowered her camera as she looked him straight in the eye. “You aren’t one of the things I’m interested in filming anyway.”

Lars gave a silent offended squack as Nora turned away. Emerald was grinning as she came back with a decent stash of cookie cats, showing off her shark-like teeth.

“I hope to all things merciful that these sweet treats will never get discontinued.”

Nora gave a light hearted chuckle as she playfully nudged her friend. She paid for the Cookie Cats and the two head off back towards their home.

\--

It wasn’t hard to find, considering it was located in the center of a giant statue in the shape of a six-armed woman. Emerald was humming the Cookie Cat jingle as they headed through the door of the shack-like house. Nora was hopeful the others had return from the gem missions they usually were busy with during this time of day.

“Hell-oh!”

Nora’s enthusiastic greeting was cut short when a creature came charging towards them. With a steely glint in her eye, Emerald summoned a knife from her gem and readied to attack the monster with a battle cry. After a moment of standing in stunned silence, Nora quickly got her camera set to record.

“As you see, this is more or less the average course of events of my life.”

She was too busy focusing on the battle Emerald was embroiled in that she had yet to notice another of those creatures was headed towards her. Luckily, she was pulled away from being attacked by them by a pair of big, strong hands, forcing a sound of shock out of her as she kept hold of her camera.

“Watch it, Nora!”

Nora looked up towards the one that saved her.

She had rainbow, dreadlocked hair that was pulled back by a lilac headband and black eyes with periwinkle skin that had tattoos on her shoulders. Like Emerald she had a gem, though hers was in the center of her chest, and she was dressed in a black apron-like outfit that resembling a blacksmith, with a single brown pocket and a pinkish-red star-shaped belt around her waist. Her pants were a burgundy color that were tucked into dark brown boots.

“You’re half human and humans are fragile,” Bismuth chastised.

“I’m not that fragile!” Nora’s attention was drawn towards another crash, directing her attention towards the source of it, before she could continue her protesting. Suddenly, there were two others with them. Both were very similar in size, eye color, skin tone, and body type, but there were some key differences between them.

One had her hair in a short, two-toned mohawk with bangs covering her left eye. She had a gem on her right shoulder and wore a dark red fingerless glove on her right hand. She had a burgundy belt over a red shirt that had no left sleeve and burgundy boots. Both her shirt and dark red shorts had fractions of the same star emblem in a dark red on the left side of them.

The other one had long hair that fell over her right eye. She had a gem on her right hand and wore a black fingerless glove on her left hand. She had a dark red belt over a light red tank top that had red detached sleeves and dark red shoes. Both her tank top and burgundy skirt had fractions of the star emblem in red on the right side of them.

The longer haired one was looking over the creature carefully while the two-toned mohawked one was punching it with her brass knuckles.

“The weak spot should be nearby…” the long haired one mused softly.

“Any place is a weak spot if you punch hard enough,” the other huffed as it kept the creature busy.

Eventually, the long-haired gem managed to find what she was looking for. She summoned her chisel from her gem and went straight through it in a precise, clean cut.

“But the perfect weak point makes it much easier for it to be dealt with.”

Nora recorded their encounter in awe. Just as one of the creatures was about to use its acid on her, she was dragged back by a purple whip.

“Geeze, you need to be careful where you’re at, Squirt.”

In front of her were three more gems.

The first was rather lanky and tall with short, poufy beige hair. She had amber eyes and light orange skin with scarlet markings on her left shoulder and across her face. Her gem was on her stomach and she was dressed in a dark grey tank top that had the star in the center, baggy jeans, and shoes with spikes on the bottom. She pulled out a swiss army knife from that gem as she got closer to the fray.

The second was short and chubby with lilac skin and long pale lavender hair that fell into her dark indigo eyes. She was dressed in an oversized, off-the-shoulder, mauve tank top that partially obscured the gem on her chest. Her black leggings had star-shaped tears on the knees. She also wore small, pointed, white boots. She was still holding onto the whip that held onto her.

The last one was only slightly taller than the second one, by an inch at most, with a similar build to her as well. She had maroon hair that was tied back in a ponytail, red skin, and peachy orange eyes. Her gem was on right her shoulders and she was dressed in a baggy t-shirt that had two of the star emblem on it and a hole for it. She also wore a black skirt, short combo and pink boots. In her hands were nun chucks that were at the ready to start swinging.

“It’s kind of hard to focus on getting the perfect shots and I considering I’ve yet to figure out my own gem powers…” Nora kept the ‘ _if I have any of them_ ’ to herself, watching as the three of them rushed in to take the creatures out after she was freed from the whip.

There was a crash as another gem began fighting the random centipede-like creatures that were attacking their home, this one charging at it with an ax and a steely yet silent gaze. Despite the aforementioned weapon, she was slender and elegant with a pointed nose and a gem on her chest. Her pale blue hair hid her eyes, sky blue skin. She wore a black biker jacket over a periwinkle sleeveless top, black biker gloves, and a blue skirt over dark periwinkle pants. For a brief moment she looked up from her onslaught to wave at Nora with a smile before returning to deal with the creatures.

“What are these things?!” Nora asked without expecting an answer in frustration. Before she could seriously investigate the question, her attention was drawn to an attack by the warp pad.

In the center of the fray was a gem who had a similar build as the one with the ax, as well as a similar gem that was on her forehead instead. She had short peach hair, blue eyes, and ivory white skin. She was dressed in a sky-blue top that had a yellow star emblem and transparent neckline and waist tail accents. Knee-high, salmon pink leggings went under that as well as light-green socks and ballet flats. She was doing elegant moves while dealing with the various centipede like things that are charging off towards the warp pad.

“These Centipeetle agents keep getting closer and closer to the warp pad.”

Another gem suddenly appeared, slicing one in half with her dagger. She was similar to Nora’s mother in build except flatter chested, much thicker in the limbs, and lacked her prominent lips. Her straight hair was long and wild, similar to the three quartzes from earlier, and had none of Rose’s signature curls. Her pale pink skin was freckled and her dark pink eyes had stars inside the irises. On the center of her back was her gem which, outside of the coloring and the star in the center facet, looked similar to Nora’s own gem she inherited. She was dressed in a light pink sundress that had a diamond shaped hole, to expose her gem, and a dark pink sun hat with a ribbon decorated in light pink stars that had a light pink diamond clasp keeping it on. She looked around the area with determination.

“No luck finding the head honcho. We still need to locate her if we want these things to stop.”

Nora watched her in interest as Emerald threw a knife at another one of the creatures, destroying its form instantly. Another was charging towards Nora once it had, however, causing her to involuntarily cry out as she flinched away from it. Thankfully, however, it was stopped by another gem.

She was very tall and rather muscular with long white hair that had bangs hiding her non-gem eye. Her skin had varying patches of green and deep pink. She was dressed in a baggy red-violet t-shirt that had stars of varying pink and red shades and white long sleeves that were layered, with black pants and red boots with black soles. She looked over at her in concern.

“Are you sure you can’t test your new camera somewhere that isn’t in the middle of a battle? I don’t want you getting hurt…”

A loud, excited battle-cry came from behind the gems as the source of the scream came charging, choking one of the very last of the Centipeetle agents. Her body was similar to the gems with the ax and spear. She had long and unruly hair with bangs that hide one of her pink eyes and pink skin. A part of the gem on her chest was discolored, as was parts of her leg and arm. She was dressed in a pink baggy t-shirt that had a dull, dark-pink star emblem on its side, with a pink tank top underneath it. She also wore pale-pink boxer-like shorts that had red polka-dots, two-toned pink and red leggings, and black and white sneakers. “Hey, if she’s going to eventually join us, she might as well start getting prepared for it as soon as she can, right?” She gave a shrug, going back to the fray.

“Yeah, but I figure whatever that thing she’s using is something she doesn’t want broken…”

Another noise came from the kitchen. She looked over as someone else was punching some of the last of the centipeedles that were there. A tall, curvy woman with maroon skin and black hair in a cube shaped afro. Her eyes were hidden behind orange tinted shades. She was dressed in a black and crimson bodysuit that had cubed shoulder pads, the right one being magenta and the left one being crimson. The body suit also had a pink star with a magenta outline across its chest and long, elbow-length black gloves that were fingerless except for their middle fingers.

“It can’t be that far. It must be around the house.”

“You think I could help you guys out?”

“Nora, until you learn to control the powers in your gem, we’ll take care of protecting humanity, okay?” The spear wielding gem said in a motherly tone as she snapped the neck of one of the last bugs inside the temple.

“I think we should keep one of them!”

“Yeah, if you want the house destroyed more than usual…”

Emerald dealt the finishing blow to the last of the creatures. Before Emerald could relish in her victory, she noticed a Cookie Cat themed minifridge on the counter. Stars shone in her eyes in awe of it as she dissipates her knife back into her gem.

“Oh my stars! Is that-!?”

“Well, seeing as you like them, Ems, I figured, to celebrate the anniversary of Nora living with us, we went and stole a bunch.”

“I’d paid for them.”

Nora stopped recording in a panic, putting the camera on the counter, and rushed over to the regular freezer. Sure enough, there were a bunch of Cookie Cats, but her main concern wasn’t that. Fortunately, the glow stick bracelet was still there. Nora sighed in relief, closing the fridge door.

“So, what’s the camera for, Nors?”

Nora perked up, giving the scarlet gem that asked that a genuine smile. “Glad you asked!” She picked the camera back up from the counter, showing it off with a flourish. “I used the money I’ve been saving up to get it! Partly to practice my filmmaking, but I want to record you guys, so when we come across them later, we’ll see how far we’ve come.” Nora beamed at her brightly.

Meanwhile, Emerald was singing the Cookie Cat jingle in the background once more. The other gems gave varying reactions that ranged from confusion, intrigue, and support. The blue gem gave a simple thumbs up and smile.

“Well, at least it will give you something to do until your powers activate.”

Nora gave a subtle pout towards the comment the ivory gem made but before she could say anything, half of a Cookie Cat appeared in front of her face. She blinked at it in confusion.

“Here,” Emerald smiled as Nora grabbed the ice cream treat. “I figured that since this is supposed to be a celebration, you can have the half of it you like.”

Nora looked at it then up at Emerald with a fond smile. Emerald returned the hug Nora gave her.

“Thanks, Emerald.” Nora said softly. “I appreciate it.”

Nora takes a bite of the ice cream treat after letting go of Emerald, enjoying the creamy and cool taste. As she did, however, her gem began to glow from under her shirt. All the gems near her looked at it in awe. Nora gave them a confused look upon noticing their stares, only to see the pale pink glow herself. Unfortunately, it stopped as quickly as she noticed it. She gave a sigh.

“Well, at least we know you have SOME kind of magic.”

“The main trick is to see what activates it.”

A light bulb went off inside Nora’s head. She glanced over at the Gems, then to her camera, with a grin. “Why don’t you guys show me how you summon your weapons? Surely out of the 13 of you I can learn a technique or two about summoning mine.”

The gems talked about the suggestion amongst themselves. Eventually Bismuth gave a shrug and answered.

“Couldn’t hurt to try.”

\--

“Alright, start by telling a bit about yourself.”

“Are you sure the video camera is necessary?”

Nora, Emerald, and Pearl were standing beneath a cherry blossom tree. Nora had her video camera out, already starting to record Pearl, while Emerald was behind her, watching them.

“I just need to test its resolution. Besides, it’ll be fun to look back on in a few years, right?”

Pearl sighed. Eventually she gave a polite smile, and waved gently towards the camera. “Greetings, my name is Pearl. I’m one of the many, loyal Crystal Gems, founded by the amazing, beautiful, incredi-” Nora cleared her throat. Pearl flushed, focusing once more at the task at hand. “I take my duty of protecting the earth and humanity seriously,” she said bluntly.

“So, Pearl, how do you summon your weapon?”

Pearl clasped her hands with a grin, then bent down to grab a fistful of petals. “Pay attention to these petals, Nora,” she said as she let them fall. Nora nodded, filming the petals as they fell, then focusing the camera back on Pearl. “The petals' dance seems improvised, but it is being calculated in real time based on the physical properties of this planet. With hard work and dedication, you can master the magical properties of your gem and perform your own dance!” Pearl did an elegant twirl that mimicked the graceful spinning of the petals, summoning her spear. Nora and Emerald watched her in awe.

“Like so.”

Nora pressed stop on her camera.

“Thanks for the advice, Pearl.”

The two then left, waving goodbye to Pearl as they headed down the grassy hill.

\--

At the Big Donut, Nora tried various dances of her own to get her gem to activate, but to no avail. She sighed as Emerald threw some flower petals over her.

“Did Pearl tell you about the flower petal thing?”

Nora looked over to see a group of four gems coming up to them. She gave a slight nod, prepping her camera to record again. “Before you guys tell me how you summon your weapons, can you introduce and tell a little about yourselves?”

The four gems shared a look between them then gave her four equally nonplused reactions.

“What the hey? Why not?”

Nora pressed record, focusing her camera on them.

“Yo, this is Amethyst-” Amethyst struck a peace sign.

“-Skinny-” Skinny sighed with a smirk.

“-Carnelian.” Carnelian waited a beat before nudging the gem next to her.

From her gem a hologram spelled out the words, ‘Blue Pearl, Blue for short’.

“We’re just some chill gems that don’t let nothin’ get in our way.”

“And how do you guys summon your weapons?”

Skinny gave a nonchalant shrug. “I think Ames has a better grasp at it then we do.”

Amethyst gave a rather loose wave of the hand at the camera. “Listen, Nors, all that practice stuff is no fun. Whenever I need to summon my weapon, it just happens.” At that she summoned her weapon very casually, destroying a nearby trash can. Nora simply stared at it slack-jawed. “See? Didn’t try at all.”

“So, is summoning your weapons easy for you guys as well?”

The others nodded, Blue making a teetering hand gesture.

Nora stopped recording, her and Emerald leaving the parking lot as Lars screamed out about the destroyed garbage can. Apparently, it hadn’t been the first time Amethyst had done so.

\--

“Come on…” Nora grunted, hands held out in front of her gem, “…just… work…” Despite how much she concentrated and strained herself, nothing happened. She sighed dejectedly, arms hanging limp.

“Guessing the Famethyst told ya ‘it comes naturally’?”

Nora looked up to see the ‘twin’ gems at that. Unthinkingly, she picked up her camera and started getting it prepared to film.

“Yeah, but it’s just not working for me…” She lifted it eye height after pressing record and pointed at them in signal. “Can you tell me a bit about yourselves?”

The red gem with long hair looked weary about the camera, but the one with the two tone mohawk beamed and decided to talk. “I’m Rouge and this is my closest friend Mira.” Mira gave a little curtsey towards the camera. “Mira’s the brains and I’m the one that likes to punch stuff,” Rouge demonstrated as such by pounding a fist into its opposite palm. “…mostly my enemies,” she shrugged at Nora’s less than enthused expression. “I like hanging out with the Famethyst as well. We may be different cause of our gem type, but we stand by each other no matter what.”

“And how do you two summon your weapons?”

Rouge gave an embarrassed laugh. “Well… it’s… more or less how the Famethyst do…”

Getting their attention, Mira summoned a hologram from her gem. It was covered in charts and diagrams and a language Nora couldn’t quite understand. “Weapon summoning is very complex and unique to each Gem. Even between gems of the same type,” she gestured between herself and Rouge. “Each method used is different, much like the weapons they wield. The best thing you can do is find the right method for you. Mine would be something between Pearl and Amethyst’s methods.” At that, Mira pulled a simple red chisel right out from the back of her hand gem with a flourish of her wrist. “It’s quite simple, really, though it can take more practice for some gems than others.”

Nora stopped recording, feeling only slightly less in the dark than before. “I’m gonna go find the others now,” she said with a slight smile. “Thanks for the advice you two.”

“Don’t mention it. I try to help anyone that struggles with gem matters as much as I can.”

Nora and Emerald ran off, hoping above hope that one the other gems could help Nora find a way to summon her weapon. Or work any other of her gem given abilities.

\--

Going back up to the house, Nora located a quartet of Gems. They each gave various looks at camera, ranging from anxious to mildly interested and everything in between. The one that was similar to her mom said, with mild trepidation, “While I understand your desire to learn how to summon your weapon, maybe we should save it until after we’ve dealt with the current threat we’re facing?”

“It seems like it’ll be hiding for a long while anyway, so you guys should take a break,” Nora smiled, waving her camera with a waggle of her brow. “Then you guys can really get back to business.”

The one similar to Nora’s mom one gave a sigh. “Let’s get this over with.”

Nora made a sound of glee, getting her camera all set up to record, focusing on the one with rainbow hair as the other three readied themselves.

“All you guys have to do is introduce yourselves, then explain how you summon your weapons.”

“The name’s Bismuth,” the rainbow haired one said haughtily. “I’m the blacksmith of and a founding member of the Crystal Gems. There’s no one that’s more crystal gem than me,” she thumbed at herself, showing off her star tattoos.

“How do you summon your weapon?”

Bismuth’s pride deflated. “Er… well…I don’t technically have one… outside of my body, that is.”

At that she transformed one of her arms, from her hand up to her elbow, into a giant hammer. “I build every material weapon – use’em too, quite well if I do say so myself – and upgrade them as necessary.” Almost like a lightbulb, something flickers in Bismuth’s eyes as she reforms her arm into an arm. “Hey-!”

“I don’t think pearl will allow me to have one of your custom weapons, Bismuth,” Nora said flatly.

Nora then focused onto the gem somewhat similar to her mother.

“Now you.”

The freckled gem with stars in her eyes hesitated, but eventually said, “My name is Star Rose Quartz. Or just… Star for short. I’m one of the Crystal Gems, and I take my duties as one very seriously, but I do attempt to make some time off for leisure...” She flushed, looking away.

“How do you summon your weapon, Star?”

“I just focus on summoning it, then…” Star pulled her weapon from her back, a simple dagger decorated in stars and rose thorns. “It’s that simple.”

Nora then focused her camera towards the last two gems. “Now you guys.”

The two gems looked over the camera, the tall muscular one looking a bit nervous. The pink gem put her hand on her in reassurance.

“I-I’m Ocean Jasper, but I usually go by Ocean. I’m a member of the Crystal Gems.” She hummed in thought, planning her words carefully. “I-I prefer a much more peaceful existence, but I won’t hesitate to help protect my friends, especially…” She looked to the gem touching her who let go.

“The name’s Pink Pearl, but you can call me Chip, considering I’m not as pink as I used to be.” Chip gestured towards the gem on her chest, point out the discoloration that was similar to Ocean’s own. “I’m Ocean’s girlfriend and one of the toughest members of the Crystal Gems. You mess with any of them, you mess with me. I’m adept at fighting and just as strong as any quartz worth their facet.”

“And how do you two summon your weapons?”

“Well, I’m a more of a lover than the fighter, so I never really put much thought into summoning my weapon,” Ocean flushes, scratching behind her head. “It just appears when I need it.”

“For me, all it takes is for the thrill of battle to excite me and-” Chip pulls out a long, elegant ribbon. It’s mostly uniform in color, aside from a few splotches much like herself. “Like so...”

“Alright, we’re done.” Star said, heading off without the others. “Let’s go find the centipeedle.”

The other gem, aside from Emerald, followed Star to find the mother monster that had attacked their house earlier. Nora stopped recording, staring down at the camera to fiddle with the settings as she and Emerald went to find another of the gems.

\--

“-and what can you tell me about yourself?”

“…Garnet.”

“I mean, is there something about yourself you’d like to say?”

“I like my privacy.”

“… got it.”

Nora sighed, fiddling with her camera while still keeping it on Garnet. “So… I’ve been told that I have to work at it, but it’ll come naturally. I have to not think about it too hard, but focus on what it is I want. But also, it’ll just happen with enough blood lust? Is that how it works?”

“…yes…”

Nora took a beat before finally asking, as she focused the camera once more for a better shot, “so how do you summon your weapon then, Garnet?”

“You could link your mind with the energy of all existing matter, channeling the collective power of the universe through your gem, which results in-” and in a flash of light, Garnet summoned her weapon. A pair of spiked gauntlets. Emerald clapped appreciative while Nora kept recording, mouth agape. “At least that’s my way of doin’ it.”

Nora felt even more lost than when she started.

“… thanks for the advice, Garnet.”

\--

Nora plopped on top of her bed, yelling in frustration, “NOTHING WORKS!”

“I’m sure you’ll find out how to summon it eventually.”

Nora groaned, turning her head to stare at her camera on the side table beside her. There was a beat before Emerald followed Nora’s stare. “Hey, you know, you never asked me to say something for your camera thing.”

Nora leaned to look over at Emerald, frowning thoughtfully. In hindsight, it was kind of odd that she hadn’t already filmed her. “…I was planning to film all you guys at some point eventually…”

In a moment they were all set. Nora focused the camera onto Emerald, who was sat on the couch.

“Alright, go ahead and introduce yourself.”

“I’m Emerald, the second youngest member of the crystal gems. I like fighting and exploring human stuff. As for how I summon my weapon, I just tap into my desire to protect my love ones-” closing her eyes, she pulled a knife from her gem, “-and out it comes. Just like that.”

It felt almost light a lightbulb went off at what Emerald said, shining like stars from her eyes. Nora immediately stopped recording, then focused on her own feelings of protection towards her family.

Nothing happened.

She groaned in frustration.

“Maybe we should take a break from this for now,” Emerald said gingerly, gauging Nora’s reaction.

Nora hesitated, but she eventually relented with a sigh. “Fine.”

\--

Emerald headed towards the minifridge filled with Cookie Cats. She grabbed one with a cheerful hum, heading back towards Nora. She split the ice cream, handing Nora her favored half as she said, “Maybe we should retrace our steps to see if we can figure out how it got activated in the first place?”

In reply, Nora simply shrugged and took a bite. She hummed and closed her eyes with contentment as the taste of strawberry filled her sense. For a moment all she does is take in the shared moment with her friend. So much so that she didn’t notice when her gem started glowing. Emerald, however, did, and watched in stunned silence as the glow grew and formed into Nora’s weapon.

“…Nora,” Emerald whispered, “…it’s a shield…”

Nora’s eyes flew open. Finally, her weapon had appeared. Neither her nor Emerald said anything else as it solidified… at least until Nora’s excitement got the best of her.

“FINALLY!”

As soon as she shouted, the shield shot out. It ricocheted all over the place, only stopping when it hit the TV. The two gems shared a bewildered look, watching as the broken electronic smoked.

“… well, now I get how a shield can be a weapon…”

“Uh… did I miss something while I was away?”

The two turned towards the source of the voice, which was in the front doorway. She was similar height and build as pearl/blue/chip with long pink-lilac hair loose and free, light pink eye (one of her eyes was crack, which had it spread towards her face), white skin, a light pink gem in similar shape as pearl’s on her stomach and dressed in an odd necklace that had white and pink leaf like shapes on it, baggy pink/dark pink t-shirt dress with a star shape hole to expose her gem, a short glove on one of her hands, and pink ballet shoes. She was holding something in a bag.

“Nora has a weapon that can be summon by eating cookie cats.”

The cracked eye pearl looked at them in confusion, blinking at them in stunned silence. Nora stared at Emerald herself, just as confused at the suggestion that her she could summon her weapon with the novelty ice cream.

“…what’s in those things that they could do that?”

Nora simply sighed. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Emmy.”

“… anyway… you were trying to summon your weapon, Nora?”

Nora nodded. “I’ve only managed to activate my gem twice. You saw the tail end of the last one.” The cracked-eye gem nodded, placing the bag onto the counter.

Emerald snapped her fingers. “Maybe you can help Nora with summoning her gem.”

The gem was taken aback at this. She blushed nervously, fiddling with her necklace. While Nora was just as hesitant, knowing she wasn’t comfortable with it, she was desperate to try anything. Nora got out her camera and hit record, focusing it on the cracked eye gem.

“Can you tell us about yourself?”

The gem was awkward at first, her working eye looking nervously around at anything but the camera as she held onto her necklace like a life preserver. “I’m Pink Pearl, but others call me Pink or Peep for short. I’m one of the founding members of the Crystal Gems, but I prefer a much more peaceful life.” She sighed. “And as for weapons, well, I don’t really have one,” she flushed. “I do have an ability that… well… I prefer to not use… I either use things lying around or things I store in my gem.”

Pink closed her eyes, unconsciously pulling out a gun. She quickly put it back in shock upon hearing the two gasp. Nora stopped the recording.

“Uh, thanks anyway, Peep,” Nora said, her voice high with anxiety.

\--

Nora collapse on the couch after putting the camera up, Emerald and Pink joining her.

“Don’t worry, Nors, you’ll be able to activate your weapon eventually,” Emerald reassured her. “These things just take time.” Affecting her best approcimation of Pearl, she added. “Patience is a virtue.”

“It’s a boring one,” Nora sighed, not giving her even a small huff of laughter.

Pink put a comforting hand on Nora’s shoulder. Just as she was about to say something, a loud crashed interrupted the moment. The three of them rushed outside, Emerald grabbing the Cookie Cat minifridge and various extension cords to bring it out of the house with them, looking for the commotion.

They discovered the other crystal gems fighting the mother of the centipeedle agents, a much larger and much more threatening version of them, right outside the house on the beach. Despite being hugely outnumbered, the thing clearly had the upper hand of the battle. Pink summoned her weapon and jumped off the porch while Emerald gave Nora the minifridge and bundle of cords.

“Eat one of these in case you want to join us.”

“But I don’t think it’ll wor-”

Emerald was already in the fray, attacking the creature. Nora watched the scene unfold, hesitant to join in it. She grabbed a Cookie Cat out of the fridge, unwrapping it with some difficulty.

‘Please work,’ Nora thought to herself, taking a not-insignificant bite out of it and swallowing.

But no such luck.

Still, Nora figured she shouldn’t stand there useless. She looked over at the fridge, then at the fight raging in front of her, then down at her gem. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, then eventually made her choice. She grabbed the fridge, heading towards the fight. Then. She began to sing.

**“ _He's a frozen treat with an all new taste!_ ”**

The centipeedle and the gems, who were cornered behind a boulder, looked at her in distraction. The centipeedle turned its focus on her, screeching as acid dripped from its maw. The Gems cried out to Nora in fear but she paid them no mind, busy enacting her plan.

**“ _'cause he came to this planet from outer space!_ ”**

The centipeedle charged towards her. Despite having no reliable weapon at hand, she showed nothing but determination as she charged towards it in turn.

As they barreled towards each other, they gained traction, going ever faster.

**“ _Cookie Cat! He's a pet for your tummy_!”**

The centipeedle made its attack, Nora barely dodging it considering the weight of the fridge in tow.

**“ _Cookie Cat! He's super-duper yummy!_ ”**

Nora managed to get behind it, leaving it stunned in confusion.

**“ _Cookie Cat! He left his family behind!_ ”**

She picked up the plugged-in fridge, ready to fling it at the creature that was hurting her family.

**“ _Cookie Caaaaat!_ ”**

She launched the fridge at the centipeedle, electrocuting it. After a brief moment the other crystal gems charged at it, their weapons at the ready, finally destroying its form. The gem dropped onto the sand softly. Star picked it up, handing it to Garnet so she could bubble and send it away. Nora looked down at the destroyed Cookie Cat minifridge, falling to her knees.

“Now available… nowhere.”

Emerald rushed towards the fridge. She looked down at it in devastation, cradling it like one would a baby. Nora inched next to the grieving Emerald, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, we can get Bismuth to fixed it. Or maybe the Big Donut has a spare one.”

Emerald wiped her tears, giving a small nod, dropping the fridge unceremoniously.

“… guess you don’t summon your shield through ice cream.”

“Of course her powers don't come from ice cream.” The two gems looked over as the other Crystal Gems came up. Pearl knelt nearby them, giving Nora reassuring smile. “Don't worry, Nora, I'm sure some day you'll figure out how to activate your gem.”

“Yes,” Garnet smiled, “in your own Nora-y way.” Nora shared the smile, blushing slightly.

“Hey, you didn’t do your own video test thing yet,” Amethyst said.

Nora looked up and over towards the porch where she’d left the camera. She ran up the steps to grab it. Taking a deep, calming breath, she turned it on and pointed it at herself.

“Hi, my name is Nora Universe. I’m a budding member of the Crystal Gems. My family’s a bit crazy, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. I can’t wait to show more about my life soon, but that’ll be it for now. Just know that someday, I’m going to help save my planet. Somehow. Bye for now.”


	2. The eye and the cannon

“So, what’ll it be?”

Nora was at the counter of Beach Citywalk Fries. Emerald, Pink, Blue, Amethyst, Rouge, Carnelian, and Skinny crowded behind her. She gave Mr. Fryman a polite smile, crossing her arms on the counter. “Oh, the usual,” she said. “And enough to share with my friends.”

“I’m not much of an eater,” Pink muttered, looking down and away.

“Er… don’t you want to try something else?” He hazards, trying to keep her from eating the dredges of the fryers. The ‘bits’, as she called them, were nothing more than balls of oil.

“C’mon, just give us the bits,” Amethyst banged on the counter, chanting ‘the bits’. Soon all but Nora, Blue, and Pink joined in.

Nora looked over at Mr. Fryman with a nervous smile. “Don’t want to mess with a classic, Mr. Fryman,” she said. Then, leaning towards him, she added, “Besides, it’ll help get rid of us.”

“Thank you, mister fry person,” Pink said, bowing gracefully.

The group left the stall, Nora giving Mr. Fryman a wave as they did. The paper boats were passed around to be shared and they did so enthusiastically, though Pink only took one bite before letting the others have at it.

“This has been a lovely day,” Emerald mused, Nora nodding in agreement.

The group walked past a house that was nearby the temple and its own that was almost finished with its construction. This far away from the boardwalk, and while the aforementioned house wasn’t being worked on, the only sounds were seagulls and the ocean itself. Nora took another handful of bits, looking at the sky as she took in the moderate quiet. She was in awe of its beauty. However, she noticed something was… off.

“…wait, why is the sky suddenly all red?”

The other gems looked up at that, various sounds of shock coming from them. Emerald bubbled her fry bits as the group rushed to the house, hurrying to alert the others.

The eight of them found the other Crystal Gems near the lighthouse. Pearl was staring into a telescope while the others were looking up at the sky in concern.

“What’s happening?” 

Star looked over at them anxiously. “A Red Eye has approached. We think something has happened to it and it’s going to crashed into the town.”

“That’s… not good,” Nora said, fiddling with her bracelet nervously.

“Do y’all know of a way to stop it before that happens?”

“The only thing powerful enough to destroy it is a Laser Cannon that belonged to Rose Quartz,” Pearl said lightly, glancing over and down at Nora.

Nora gripped her shirt above her bellybutton where the gem that’s a part of her was.

Amethyst groaned with the other Famethyst. “If Rose were here, this would be easy.”

Most of the gems show their grief in various ways, though Star and Bismuth have some bitterness to theirs while Garnet appears stoic as ever and Emerald seems to not know how she should feel. Nora doesn’t show her own feelings on the matter, knowing it’s much less important than the task at hand they should all be dealing with instead.

“Were they hidden?” she asked. “Maybe we should go looking for them…”

Blue summoned a hologram, snapping in inspiration. “Maybe Greg knows where one is.”

The gems, sans Blue and Emerald, show hesitance at this suggestion. Something Nora frowns at. “What’s wrong with my dad?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“Greg is... nice, Nora,” Pearl started, “but I doubt Rose would entrust someone… like him… with such a powerful weapon.”

“He’s kind of a mess.” Skinny added airily, getting a snort of a laugh from Amethyst.

“…maybe don’t be so blunt about it,” Bismuth said after a beat of awkward silence.

“Are you so certain about what Rose would do?”

The others turned towards the source of comment. In front of the lighthouse door were four other gems, each one more different than the last.

The first was similar to the pearls in body type, lithe and lanky, with light pink skin and pink eyes. Her wild, pink hair was of medium length with bangs hiding her left eye. There were scars all over her body and her circular gem on her stomach had three scratches across its surface. She was dressed in a black leather jacket that had a skull and torn apart rose petals on its back, her tank top and holey jeans and shoes all in varying shades of pink.

The second was also similar in build and height as a pearl, only with a button-like nose and slightly curvier hips, with grey skin that had rainbow freckles dusting it and mismatching pink and blue eyes. Her hair was long and pink with gold streaks. She was dressed in an elegant black top with a pink pocket that had red lining and a broach pinned to it. She also wore black, detached sleeves that had pink tassels with red tips. Her shorts were salmon and she wore pink socks that led into red sneakers with pink laces.

The third was actually two conjoined at the torso. They were smaller than Nora and slighty lankier than the pearls with pale-red skin. They had two gems in the center of their stomach Their hair was red, the right was short in length while the left was medium in length. Their cat-slit eyes were likewise red. Their ears, situated higher on their head than usual, were also cat-like, as was their tails. They were dressed in a baggy light red tank top, red shorts, and dark red boots.

The last one was a head shorter than the pearl, having a similar if more stocky build. She had paper white skin with grey circle around her yellow eye and pink blotches covering parts of her face and around her gem, said gem being where her other eye would’ve, in a giant splatter like manner and long pink hair. She was dressed in a yellow and pink striped shirt with a dark-grey, holey, one sleeved top over it. She also wore blue shorts with pink pockets, brown boots, a blue choker that had pink spikes, and a blue bracelet that had pink stripes and grey spikes.

Pearl glared at the first gem. “What makes _you_ so certain?”

The first gem walked towards Pearl. Nora looked between the two nervously as the first gem said, “I’m just saying, nobody can have a full grasp on who she really was... except herself.”

“Well, if you hadn’t left us-”

The first put a hand up to quiet Pearl. “Let’s save this for when we’re not all in danger of dying. We need to search for the cannons, or at least find an alternative if you’re right and we can’t.” Pearl glared at her but kept quiet, the first gem’s expression softening.

After a while, one of the conjoined gems said, “What’s the first alternative?”

Garnet hefts Amethyst and Carnelian up onto her shoulders, jumping high in the air before throwing them towards the eye. Everyone else watched this strange display until they heard a soft plunking noise and two splashes in the ocean.

The one-eyed gem hissed at that and replied, “…I don’t think that will work.”

Blue turned and showed a hologram message to Emerald, Pink and Nora. _“Let’s go find Greg and see if he has one of Rose’s cannons.”_ Nora and Emerald nodded. The four of them left while the others worked on other methods to destroy the red eye.

\--

“I wonder why Greg doesn’t get some place to live outside of his van?”

“ _Various reasons._ ”

Nora gesture to the other gems to stay put. She headed towards the van that was parked in front of the car wash Greg owned, directly under its sign. IT’S A WASH, the neon elephant and letters proclaimed. Unsurprisingly, the van was the only vehicle there. She knocked gently, then roughly. The van door busted open, the person who threw them open wielding a waffle iron and looking ready to fight.

He was a plump, middle-aged man with pale brown hair similar to Nora’s but had a bald spot that caused a lack of bangs. His eyes were the same color as hers as well and while his skin tone was similar it was extremely sunburnt. He was dressed in a white tank top, grey sweat pants, and teal sandals. He relaxed after blinking blearily at them when he realized who was in front of him. Blue gave a casual wave while the others stared at him in awkwardness.

“Dad,” Nora said as she jumped to hug him, causing him to drop the waffle iron.

“Hey, Newt-ball!” Greg ruffled Nora’s hair. She smiled at the gesture, almost forgetting why she was there for the moment. “You and some of the Gems came to visit your old man.”

Nora smiled brightly at him, though it fell slightly when she caught sight of the red eye. Three of the gems were thrown at it again. “Uhh, as much as I’d like to just hang out, we have more pressing matters. Some eye… thingy is gonna crash into Beach City, and the only way to stop it is to find one of Mom’s weapon. We think she might’ve given it to you…?”

Greg rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Err, the Gems don’t want me to mess around with magic stuff. Says I’ll probably lose what’s left of my hair.”

"Greg, Rose loved you more than any other human she’s ever met. Maybe even more then…” a blush crept over Pink’s face as she looked away from him, her hands going to absentmindedly play with her necklace. After some silence, Blue ‘spoke’ up.

“ _Don’t sell yourself short, Mr. universe. Maybe she’d left it with you somewhere?_ ”

Greg sighed. “Well, I know one place where it might be.”

\--

Emerald looked over the place they were brought to. “Is this some sort of… magical place?” she asked curiously as the group exited the van.

“You could say there’s magic inside,” Greg winked, twirling his keys around his fingers. All the Gems and Nora looked at him with varying forms of blankness and confusion. After a while he coughed into his hand and said, “This is the place where I store things that can’t fit in the van.” And with that he unlocked his storage unit.

“Why don’t you just get a house?” Pink asked. “Like what we made Nora?”

“Eh, it’s more convenient to just stay in the van.”

Pink looked like she wanted to say more, but she held her tongue. Blue put a comforting hand on her shoulder, then pulled her to her side in a private hug. Pink gripped her necklace gently before returning the side hug. The two then followed the others into the storage unit.

The four of them went looking for the cannon while Greg kept an eye on them. Nora was so focused on finding it that she barely noticed when she got hit by something in the back of her head. Nora picked whatever it was up, reading off of the t-shirt she’d unrolled.

“Buy t-shirt cannons?”

Nora looked over to see Emerald looking at her rather cheekily. Nora took the t-shirt cannon away from her with a neutral expression.

“Just wanted to have fun,” Emerald sighed.

After that distraction, the two kept looking around. Eventually Emerald’s sight was on Pink, smiling at her lightly. She and Blue were still searching for the cannon dutifully.

“So, Peep, how did Rose and Greg met?”

Pink returned Emerald’s smile at that. Nora listened in, despite already knowing the story and still highly focused on finding the cannon. As Pink retold the story, Blue helped her along with holograms.

“Mr. Universe was just starting out touring for his one-man band. When he got to Beach City, the only one that showed up for the concert was Rose Quartz herself. They hit it off fast after the show and he decided to settle down with her. Eventually, Rose wanted to have a child with Greg… and that’s how Nora came to exist.”

“But…” Emerald murmured, just loud enough to be audible, “is this the life he wanted?”

Greg gave a chuckle at that, “Well, as I always say, if every porkchop was perfect-”

“-we wouldn’t have hot dogs!” And just as Nora finished the quote, a pink glow from deep in the storage unit caught her and Emerald’s attention.

The two of them gasped and rushed towards it, tossing around the contents of what made up Greg’s life all around to get to it. At last, in front of them, was a pink canon with its barrel in the shape of a budding rose. As Nora head towards it, she accidently stood on a photo of her parents, breaking its glass. She gasped in guilt, but she knew she’d fix it later.

“Hey,” Emerald shouted behind to the other, “we found the cannon!”

As the other gems headed towards them, emerald felt something hit the back of her head. She turned around, seeing Nora holding the t-shirt cannon, giving a playful smirk.

\--

The four of them brought the cannon towards the van. Nora looked between the two and almost immediately realized a problem. “…we might need something to help us drag it...”

Blue silently summoned from her gem a conveniently wagon-like object that was around the same width and length as the cannon. As the others placed the cannon inside it, Greg and Emerald went ahead to get situated in the van.

Emerald held up a CD she had found near the entrance of Greg’s storage unit, smiling nervously as she leaned into the front. “I figured we could listen to some of your old tunes on the way to back.” He looked back at the CD and blushed, embarrassed at his old songs.

Once the others had the wagon and cannon set up without any worries, Pink went over to the driver’s seat where Greg was and said, amicably, “I’ll drive us over there.”

“You don’t have to,” Greg stuttered, even more embarrassed now at the offer.

“I know, but I want to.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Greg and Pink swapped places, and the rest all piled into the van. Nora took the passenger’s seat while Pink was in the driver’s and the others filled up the back. Emerald passed Nora the CD and with an unabashed smile, Nora turned it on. She and Emerald sang along to the song on the CD while Pink drove, smiling indulgently as the two sang, making their way towards their destination.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen you.” Blue showed to Greg as privately as possible.

Greg shrugged. “Eh, you guys are busy with your gem missions and all that,” he waved a hand dismissively. “I figured you didn’t have the time.”

“I missed spending time with you…”

The two let the cacophony of Emerald and Nora singing cover up the amicable quiet.

Meanwhile, on the beach, the Quartzes and Bismuth were swimming back to shore from another failed attempt at breaking the fast-approaching Red Eye. The remaining Crystal Gems looked up at it in worry while the leader of the Lighthouse Gems was commanding her crew.

“Any luck, Marcasite?”

The rainbow freckled gem shook her head in the negative.

“…how about you, Opalite?”

The one-eyed gem gave her a disappointed look, shaking her head as well as she said, “I’ve had no such luck either, Punk…”

“Maybe the cat’s eyes…” Punk said to no one in particular, staring up at the Red Eye.

The van finally parked on the beach. All the gems (including the cat’s eyes, just gotten back from a failed search) in the area looked over it. Nora and the others bolted out of the van, pulling the cannon.

“We found the cannon!”

The cannon was placed on the beach as well as it could, Nora climbing on top of it almost immediately as it was. “Okay, now how do we turn this thing on…” she trailed off, rubbing her hands all around, as if hoping to hit a switch.

“All it needs is the activation code,” Bismuth said, as she would know, considering she had built it, “But Rose changed it way before you were born, Nora…”

Nora tuned the rest of the Gems’ conversations out. She looked up, feeling her time running out with the mini-tsunami that the ascent was causing around them. Every and any phrase she could think of ran through her head, but only one kept repeating. With lives on the line, and the lingering feeling of uselessness she felt without her powers, she said the one thing she felt would work. The one phrase that defined her father, her mother’s greatest love.

“If every pork chop was perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs.”

Pearl appeared as if she was about to speak, but that was interrupted with a gasp when the cannon glowed. Everyone looked over at it in various states of shock as it activated, dropping heavily to the sand. Nora was the only exception to the shock, happy and relieved tears pouring from her eyes as she struggled to heft the cannon into position. After recovering from their stunned state, the Gems helped Nora aim.

“Brace yourselves!” was all Garnet could say.

With the groups’ combined efforts, the cannon’s blast was launched directly at its target. Everyone stared in stunned silence as the beam, twirling and blooming into Rose’s image, destroyed the Red Eye without fail. It fell and broke apart like glass shattering on the ground. After the light of the blast faded, most of the Crystal Gems looked up at the falling debris in bittersweet happiness. Pink held her necklace tightly as Bismuth and Star averted their gazes, looking slightly bitter. Nora was simply relieved and Punk seemed stunned while the rest of the Lighthouse Gems seemed oddly unaffected. After a long brief silence, Greg spoke up, drying tears from his eyes.

“Rose…”

\--

“Congrats on saving _most_ of beach city, Nora,” Emerald teased.

Nora rolled her eyes at her friend. They were cleaning up the bits of debris that were scattered around the city. Nora wasn’t really sure what the Gems plans were for the broken parts, aside from that Mira wanted to take a look at them. The lighthouse Gems were also helping out. Punk was still bewildered by what helped set off the cannon.

“I’m surprised she actually used that corny non-sequitur,” she murmured to herself.

“Like you’d said, nobody can have a full grasp of who Rose was,” Pearl replied smugly.

“…I know more than you, at least.”

Pearl’s expression was unreadable after that. Nora quickly went back to work, pretending not to have overheard. She saw Blue and Greg coming back from making sure the car was okay after almost being taken by the ocean. The two stepped out of the car.

“Hey, Blue?”

Blue looked over at him.

“If you’re not too busy, would you like to join in on my poker game next Tuesday?”

Blue was taken aback from the question, but after a while she gave Greg a small smile.

“ _… I’d loved to._ ”


	3. Nacre Spire

Nora was sitting out on the beach, waiting for the mail to arrive. Normally Emerald would be waiting with her, but she was busy with an ‘important gem mission’ that required every available gem. Because of this, she was keeping herself busy. At that moment she was humming to herself, taking in the view of the nearby sights. The sky, the clouds, the sandy beach, any other thing that caught her notice. The beauty and peace of that time of day almost made her forget how lonely she felt during those type of mission.

Almost.

Eventually the sound of sand crunching under foot caused her thoughts to come to a halt, her waiting finally ending. She gave a happy smile and wave as she rushing towards the mailman.

“Hi, Jamie!”

“Greetings, Miss. Universe,” the mailman returned her smile with his own as he resituated his overflowing mailbag to swing in front of him so he could riffle through it.

“So, did anything come for me?”

“Only some coupons and a package from a… wacky sacks supply company?” He shrugged and held out an electronic pad towards her. “Just need for you to sign this, and I’ll be on my way.”

Nora was beaming with joy as she signed it, then took the junk mail and package from him. She almost vibrated out of her sandals on the spot as she turned to run inside, shouting “Have a good day!” to Jamie as she went. He didn’t even bother trying to call out his own goodbye, not that she’d notice as the door to her home slammed shut behind her.

She tossed junk the on the counter in the kitchen area then rushed towards her bedroom area, taking two steps at a time. Having anticipated the package, a pair of scissors were at the ready to tear into it. And as fast as possible, they did.

As expected, what she had ordered the other day was peeking out from the inside wrapping. Just as she was about done removing all the wrapping from inside of the package, the gems arrived. It appeared that chaos had unfolded considering how disheveled everyone, Pearl especially, looked. Amethyst, Skinny, Carnelian, Blue, and Rouge were fighting over a giant egg with speckles in the shape of stars covering it. Emerald was the first one to rush over while the others were talking about the mission, Pearl berating the Famethyst as usual for their lack of decorum.

“How was the mission?”

“It was fun! Losts of stuff happened that I can’t wait to tell you about later!”

“…how about now?”

Emerald frowned at Nora sympathetically, rubbing the back of her head. “We have to leave immediately to place the Moon Goddess statue back on the Lunar Sea Spire before midnight. Apparently, if we don’t, the whole place will crumble.” Emearld sighed, “Pearl said it was lovely during its heyday.”

“Gems have a goddess?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Emerald shrugged. “We just like having mystical sounding names. I guess.”

Nora looked over at the other gem, at Pearl yelling at the Famethyst over not needing the egg and the Famethyst still arguing over who’s it is. For a long moment Nora was silent, looking between the package she got and the gems, before she decided to stand her ground.

“Hey, can I help out with you guys at the Lunar Sea Spire?”

And like that they were silent as the other gems looked at Nora, stunned. Eventually, Pearl spoke up.

“We appreciate the offer, but I feel that you shouldn’t-”

“Until I get my powers,” Nora interrupted. “I…I can’t just waste my time until I get my powers hanging around here, useless,” she huffed, crossing her arms before muttering, “Besides, shouldn’t I learn how to handle missions without my powers first? I mean, so I can be better prepared?”

Pearl nearly spoke before Star placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “She has a point…”

For a moment they locked eyes, then Pearl sighed. “Fine. But we need to make sure she’s careful…”

“Okay,” Nora squealed, hopping as she pulled out the contents of her package. “Let me pack supplies!”

Emerald followed Nora as she packed. A rope, an inflatable raft, a first aid kit, sweaters, even a notebook and spare batteries went into Nora’s new package. However, having to free up her hands, Nora had placed the moon goddess statue on the ground. Emerald watched Nora in apt confusion.

“But… all we need is the moon goddess statue…”

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Nora replied with a satisfied, content shrug. “Besides, I want to test out my new...” and, with a flourish, Nora lifted up her package. It was a simple backpack in the shape of a cheeseburger. Emerald simply blinked, even more confused than before. “It’s a novelty backpack! Every filling is a pocket and it’s neat and I like it!”

Without looking to see Emerald’s reaction, Nora went back to filling every available space with content, whether it was necessary or useful or not.

Seeing how distracted Nora was, Emerald handed her the discarded moon goddess statue. “Make sure you don’t forget this,” she said and Nora nodded, packing it immediately. Nora then rushed to the to the warp pad, taking two steps at a time down her loft stars, Emerald trailing behind her.

\--

Nora gasped in awe at the damaged beauty of the Spire once they arrived. She wondered if it was the kind of place the Gems would’ve visited often back in its heyday. That thought only made her more determined to make sure this first mission was a success.

“So, all we had to is go to the top and place the lunar goddess statue in its rightful place, right?”

“That’s easier said than done…”

Pearl rambled, mourning over the dilapidated state of the spire at the other Gems. Nora drifted away from the conversation, rather engrossed with all the sights surrounding her and just how much it was in a crumbling state than it originally had been. However, she soon caught sight of something. Something that was humanoid in shape and likely not much taller than that Onion kid. Nora blinked and it was gone.

“Nors, you coming?” Carnelian said, drawing Nora’s attention to them.

Nora gave the concerned Gems a casual smile, doing her best to give the impression that she had been paying attention the whole time. “Yup! The sooner we get up there, the better… right?”

The Gems gave her an encouraging smile.

“Come on, Gems. Let’s get going,” Garnet said, taking the lead with Star while Nora took the rear.

“You alright, Nora?” Emerald asked, hanging back with Nora as usual. “You looked kind of spaced out for a second... did you see something or… something?”

Nora gave a hopefully convincing smile as she said, “Oh, yeah, but I must’ve imagined it. Don’t worry.”

Emerald raised a brow but said nothing.

The two headed up the spire with the other gems in relatively companionable silence.

\--

The Gems kept following the path to their destination. It was mostly quiet, though there were the breaks in the silence from the rarely quiet Famethyst, with Blue forming the occasional hologram to input her own thoughts. Emerald was still beside her, humming to herself. Nora, meanwhile, was busy taking in her surroundings and focusing on proving her worth as a Crystal Gem.

Still, Nora felt as if someone was watching them. A feeling she needed to ignore so the others wouldn’t think her unfit or paranoid. They certainly never seemed to see or hear things that weren’t there. It was definitely unbecoming of a potential Crystal Gem.

Nora’s thoughts were cut off when the lead Gems stopped abruptly. They crowded around to see what had halted their progress. Sure enough, there was a decent sized hole between them and their destination.

“So much for the structural integrity of this place…” Bismuth sighed, crossing her arms with a frown.

Pink gave the damage a once over. “This is why we’re here,” she said, giving Bismuth a comforting hand on her tattooed shoulder. “To fix it.” They shared a smile.

Pearl gave a cheeky grin towards the group. “I know just how to get us across…” She closed her eyes and held up a finger, proceeding to drone on about her plan with holograms and complicated strategies.

Nora took her backpack off, tuning out Pearl’s explanation for her mostly over-complicated plan. She scrounged through the pockets, moving past her inflatable raft and other items, and pulled out what she was looking for her after a quick shuffle. She took out the rope and lassoed it over the gap. The other gems looked over to her as she shimmied across, replacing her backpack on her back before doing so.

“NORA!” They cried, worried for her safety over such a perilous gap.

Once she was across, she tied the rope tighter and gestured to the other gems to come over. “C’mon! It’s fine!” After some hesitance they decided to follow, Pearl going last.

“Wh-where did you get that rope?” Pearl asked, stunned, after she was across.

“I packed with me before we headed out.” Nora shrugged, rolling it up and placing it back into her backpack. “C’mon. They can’t save the Spire without the Statue!”

Pearl watched as Nora joined the others; a baffled look crossing her face. “…right…”

\--

They were half way up the spire and with every step Nora became more and more determined to return it to its former glory. She could see the way it had been, just beyond its crumbling façade. However, outside of the sights and sounds, some like musical notes, Nora still felt like they were being watched.

With how stern Star and Garnet were being, with how absorbed Ocean and Chip were into each other, with how goofy the Famethyst were being, with how Bismuth and Mira were amicably chatting about nothing, and with how Pearl and Peep were conversing as well... Nora felt like all she was feeling was paranoia. She and Emerald exchanged a quick smile before she pulled out a bag of chips.

“So…” Nora trailed off, chewing thoughtfully before continuing. “Are missions usually like this?”

Emerald was slightly startled by this, covering it by blinking quickly and taking a handful of chips. “Well, yeah,” she said, swallowing hard. “I mean, outside of the ones where we fight… those monsters, they’re usually this dull.” She shrugged. “That’s why I rarely go on them these days. I’d rather spend time with you.”

“…with me?”

“Sure. Besides maybe Garnet, you’re the one I like the most,” Emerald winked.

Nora was taken aback. She had no idea how to reply to that. In the pause, Emerald took some more of her chips. Just as Nora was reaching to pull out a water bottle, there was a yell. Immediately realizing just how much farther everyone else was now, they hurried to catch up and find the cause of the commotion.

Beyond the grout there was a bunch of crystal-like, worm-like creatures blocking the last flight of stairs. Nobody but the Pearls looked horrified at the sight. Mostly just annoyed. Nora blinked at their slow crawling.

“Uhh…”

“It’s just a bunch of crystal shrimp,” Ocean waved a hand, clearly ignoring Pearl and Peep’s less than calm reactions. “They’re not much trouble, but it’ll take a wh-”

Nora got out a stale bagel from her backpack. All the crystal shrimp tuned towards it, attracted by its mere scent. Nora ripped it into its two halves then tossed them far away from them, the crystal shrimp following suit and leaving a clear path. All the Gems looked stunned by this, Pearl especially. Nora gave a light smile and a wink to the Gems, heading up the stairs quickly before the crystal shrimp finished their ‘meal’ with Emerald on her heel. The Gems weren’t far behind them.

“Guess that backpack’s more useful than we thought, huh?” Amethyst nudged Pearl playfully.

Pearl gave Amethyst a look as Amethyst walked away but said nothing.

The higher they got didn’t affect Nora getting weird vibes. The oppressive feeling of being watched and the tinkling music got to be too much and she finally decided to confide about it to Emerald.

“Hey, Em… c-can you hear music?”

For a long moment Emerald seemed to be listening for something, cocking her head to the side. “Huh… I thought I was hearing ocean sounds, but I guess, yeah… they almost sound like music?”

Emerald seemed satisfied by that answer but Nora kept quiet despite her increasing worry, forcing her thoughts back to the daunting task ahead of the group.

\--

Eventually they reached their destination. With plenty of time to spare, from what Peep and Blue relayed. The top of the spire had ornate, surprisingly intact pillars lining the perimeter of it. In the center was a single pillar, meant for the statue of the Lunar Goddess. The only other thing of note was a small, nearby room that mainly consisted of three walls and an open entrance

Nora walked towards the center pillar, removing her backpack. She found it odd that the others didn’t but she paid no mind. She would finally prove herself. Prove her worth. And maybe, just maybe, she finally wouldn’t be left out anymore.

Opening the front pocket where she placed the statue, she pulled out a sickly-looking plush doll.

“…when did I packed this?”

She replaced the plushie with a shake of her head, finding the statue quickly. If she noticed her guardians panicked over the false alarm, Pearl especially, she made no comment, too focused on her task to notice. Her grip on the statue was gentler than it warranted, but the purposeful way she hovered it over where it was to slot into the pillar wasn’t.

And, unfortunately, just as she was about to place it… there was the music again.

Pulling back to look around, Nora eventually realized where the music was coming from.

The lone, single room.

“Uh… Nors… what’s the hold up?”

Nora flinched at Bismuth’s question. She was hesitant to mention the music, but there was no longer any part of her that wasn’t certain she was hallucinating or paranoid. Part of her wanted to place the statue and be done with it, to easily prove her worth in one fell swoop, but a stronger part of her felt that if she did she wouldn’t be able to fill her curiosity or ease her mind.

“…I think someone else is here.”

The Gems reacted towards the statement exactly how Nora expected them to. Most were doubtful and shocked, though Garnet was stoic as ever. Eventually, Pearl spoke up.

“Now, Nora, this place has been abandoned for years,” Pearl waved a hand as if to emphasis how long it’s been. “Centuries, even. There’s no possible way anyone is still lingering aroun-”

“NO!” Nora was just as shocked at her own outburst. “I-I heard something! I saw someone!” She shook her head at Pearl, stepping away from the pedestal and towards the freestanding room. “I thought I was seeing things but… now I _know_ there’s someone there. I want to check it out.”

Emerald stepped up to Nora, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We will,” she reassured her. “Just place the lunar goddess statue and we’ll-” But clearly that was the wrong thing to do.

“If this is so important, why not entrust it to someone **_that actually has powers?!_** ”

Everyone stood shocked as Nora knocked Emerald’s hand away, shoving the statue at Emerald gracelessly. Nora rushed off as Emerald fumbled with it. Nora kept going as the statue dropped and split cleanly in two as it did. Nora paid no attention to the chorus of gasps that rang out as she went through the passage into the freestanding room, not knowing what she had caused.

\--

The room, while still mostly together, was just as dilapidated as the rest of the Spire. Oddly enough, most of it was almost completely taken over by a circular pool of water. The water itself was moving and swaying in time to the conductor standing in its center.

The figure, like Nora had already seen, _was_ slightly taller than that onion kid but had a similar body type as the pearls. However, her nose was slightly smaller and pointed upwards, body appearing more child-like. She had long, wavy pink hair and dark grey skin. In the center of her chest was an oddly shape gem that had the same smoothness as the pearls. She was dressed in a pink and red sleeveless dress with a blue, short-sleeved transparent coat over it and black socks that fit into her dark pink dress shoes. The only really notable thing about her, however, was a black blindfold over her eyes. In her hand was a conductor’s wand that weaved in the air majestically. She seemed distracted by the music she was composing.

Nora certainly was.

“NORA!”

Until her name was called out by her family members. She turned to see all of the Crystal Gems – with Pearl, Star and Emerald in the lead – enter the space. The tiny gem stopped her conducting with a gasp, the water falling into the pool with a loud splash. The Gems stared at the strange, small gem in the center with their own shock. All of them stared at each other for a while, the tension thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Until the tremors started underneath them and they were too focused on staying upright.

“Wh-what’s going on,” Nora asked, looking at Garnet for any kind of help.

Emerald answered with a wide-eyed, sad shake of her head. “We didn’t get the statue placed in time.”

A stab of guilt and fear went through Nora, but before she could voice it, water started flowing in and everything started caving in. Nora braced herself, waiting to be swallowed by the waters below. Before it could, Emerald rushed towards her and pulled something out of her backpack.

Nora, with her eyes closed, heard the raft inflating and Emerald shouting for the gems to get in. She felt someone pick her up and place her in the raft. Nora kept her eyes closed until the rushing water settled and the waves evened out. When she opened her eyes, she saw all the other gems, including the mystery gem, taking up every available inch of the raft. None of them were looking at her, instead watching the last of the Spire sink below the surface. That same guilt and fear stabbed through Nora, though it didn’t settle deep enough thanks to Star placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright,” Star said and Nora was surprised there wasn’t pity in her tone. “You did the best you could.” And with that, Star pulled Nora into a comforting hug. Nora returned it hesitantly, trying to keep her emotions in check and unseen. For the longest they just floated there, the waves directing their course.

“It’s going to be a three-hour paddle back home,” Garnet announced flatly.

There was another long bout of silence before Pearl said, “I’m sure Nora has some paddles somewhere in her cheeseburger backpack.” She smiled at Nora who simply flushed before nodding.

There was only enough for the Famethyst to paddle, though a rotation system quietly developed itself. Not to mention the extra help that came from a surprising source.

“I have some control of water,” the mystery gem said. “Would that help get you all home faster?”

Star couldn’t help the huff of a laugh that escaped her. “Yeah, thanks… uhh…”

“Call me Nacre.”

“…alright then,” Star smiled. “Nacre.”

“How is this possible?” Pearl asked, her voice high and her body tightly wound. “Outside of Punk and her friends, I thought we were…” she trailed off, the thought of even more Gems on Earth clearly upsetting.

“There’s plenty more Gems like us out there,” Nacre said mildly. “I’ve met a few in my travels...” The Crystal Gems, all except Nora, looked rather surprised and confused at this revelation. Nacre hummed at their reactions. As if she had expected it. “Don’t worry. Once we’re at your home, I’ll be on my way.” She looked between the Gems and Nora, at the tension still here, and murmured, “I’ve caused enough trouble, I assume.”

The rest of the trip passed by rather smoothly, especially with Nacre’s help and the paddles keeping their pace steady. The longer they were there, however, the worse Nora felt for her part in their predicament. Sensing this, Emerald could only give Nora an encouraging smile and offer to let her rest her head on her lap for the duration. Nora took that offer just as silently as it was given to her, not wanting to disturb the other Gems and give them more reason to be upset with her and likewise hoping to have this whole experience pass by her in her sleep. And, thankfully, for the most part, it did.


	4. Temple tour

It had been a couple days since what Nora was calling ‘the spire incident’. She had quickly become consumed by guilt over her failure. Nora sighed, looking through the window from where she was sitting at the table. With a shake of her head, she tried to distract herself by overlooking the house, trying not to think how things could have been different. 

Nora’s thoughts, however, were interrupted by the clattering of dishes. Almost reflexively, she turned towards the sound and hopped off the seat to investigate when it kept going. Sure enough, there Emerald was, working on some odd dish. It was a stack of waffles that was covered in popcorn, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, different flavored chips, pop rocks, fry bits, torn up cookie cats, macaroni, and cherries.

All Nora could do was watch the strange conglomeration of food stuffs be assembled, her expression colored by her confusion. 

It wasn’t until she was done that Emerald looked up, shouting “NORA!” as her proud smile was startled off at seeing Nora so close. 

Nora waited for Emerald to regain her composure for an explanation, which the gem hesitantly gave with an embarrassed flush.

“I… noticed how sad you been ever since…” the blush deepened as she cut herself off, holding out the platter like an offering, “So I made this… together... breakfast… type thing… for us to share to cheer you up.” The smile returned, if a bit hesitantly.

With a soft chuckle, Nora hugged Emerald. “Thank you,” she said just as softly.

With a bit of difficulty, from adjusting the platter, Emerald returned the hug, her smile now more genuine than ever from knowing she relieved some of Nora’s guilt from the event.  
\--  
Emerald and Nora shared the newly dubbed ‘together breakfast’ together, taking it to the island counter’s seats. They didn’t really talk much for how stuffed their faces were of the bizarre yet oddly tasty food stuffs, enjoying each other’s silent yet comforting company. Company that was comforting enough that Nora could put her regrets to the back of her mind.

Just as they finished up the meal, Garnet appeared on the warp pad with a scroll clutched in her hand. Curiosity got the better of Nora, seeing that scroll. She rushed past Emerald to give Garnet a hug. Garnet ruffled her hair with her free hand, face as stoic as ever.

“I missed you, Garnet,” Nora said as she stood back from the Gem

“I missed you as well,” Garnet said, which made Nora’s eyes and smile widen. “What happened while I was gone?”

Emerald answered before Nora could. “We were just sharing a… balanced breakfast.”

Garnet looked over at Emerald. Emerald’s expression shifted as her pun fell flat, even with the added visual reference of the waffles. Neither Garnet nor Nora made a comment on Emerald’s pun. Nora’s focus was only on the scroll while Garnet just didn’t find it funny.

“So… what’s the scroll about?”

“Nothing for you to worry about, Nora,” Garnet answered. “I’ll be burning it before it does any damage anyway.” For a long moment Garnet simply stares out in the middle distance.

After an uncomfortably long moment, Nora’s enthusiasm is back. “Can I help out?”

As usual, it was hard to read Garnet’s expression, but even with Nora’s own pleading expression, the gem leader said, “Maybe next time, Nora.”

Nora tried her hardest to mask her disappointment as Garnet left, entering the inner sanctum of the temple without looking back. Not only that, but Nora felt like she should be used to that feeling by now. The feeling of being left behind while the gems go off to do other things without her. Eventually she’ll prove her worth to them again. In the meantime, however… 

Curiosity was a fickle thing.

“Let’s go see what that scroll is about,” Nora turned to Emerald.

Emerald almost fell off her seat in shock. “Maybe we should sit this out, Nors...”

“I’m tired of moping around,” Nora frowned. “Besides,” she added with a shake of her head, “we’re only going to observe. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Emerald bit her lip, then sighed. “Fine… but I’m only coming to make sure you don’t do anything reckless.” Nora grinned, then hugged Emerald again. With a lot less trouble, even still sitting as she was, Emerald returned it back. 

Emerald hopping up, the two gems went towards the door that Garnet had just left through, the one that went deep into the heart of the temple. In the center of the door was a star, each of the five points containing a gem or two of most of the Crystal Gems themselves. The only gems not on it somewhere were Pink, Bismuth, and Emerald herself. Nora tried to open the door, focusing on her own gem inset in it, but to no avail. She slumped over in defeat. 

Before either of them could begin to come up with another plan, they heard soft footsteps. Nora pulled Emerald away as they hid in the hallway that lead to the bathroom. It was Blue all by herself, apparently deep in thought. Using her gem, she easily opened the door like Garnet before her. She walked right through, unaware of the two other gems that followed behind her like silent shadows.  
\--  
Nora examined Blue’s room in awe. This was the first time she’d ever gone into one of the Crystal Gems’ personal rooms. Emerald was also examining it, but in worry, knowing just how dangerous the inside of the Temple could potentially be.

Blue’s room was, well, very blue. The walls were covered with various posters of classical paintings and different bands and Rockstars that toured to the nearby Empire City, as well as blueprints for motorcycles and torn out magazines of them. It was also a mess, but oddly tidy all the same. A controlled chaos, in a way, and in the center of it all was a simple shell that Blue currently was standing on top of. In front of her was an easel that had a painting she was working on, likely waiting for it to dry, as she played her axe like a guitar. A mixture of elegant rock like music came from it.

On any other day Nora would’ve stayed and listened, but time was of the essence.

Emerald pointed at a cavern she felt would lead to the other rooms, Nora heading for it without hesitation. The two of them headed off to their destination with equal parts verve and trepidation, leaving the Pearl to her work.  
\--  
The two of them went through the other rooms as silently as they could, Nora taking notes on each one and their occupants as they went through them without even realizing it. 

Rouge and Mira, unsurprisingly, shared a room that was split right down the middle.

Rouge’s side was rather messy, its floor taken over by random exercise equipment or weaponry and its walls plastered haphazardly with photos. The photos were mainly either Rouge and Mira or Rouge with Amethyst or Blue or Skinny or Carnelian. Occasionally there were photos of Rouge with Star or Punk’s group or another gem Nora didn’t recognize or Nora’s father or a much younger looking woman. 

Mira’s side was rather organized, the walls tastefully decorated by some art pieces that looked to be done by either Blue or Rouge when she decided to paint with the pearl while the floor space was dominated by lab equipment and a desk. On her desk there were various framed photos. Some of the gems, some of Nora back when she was younger, and some of other seemly random humans. In a place of importance was a simple jewelry box. Rouge was working out with a punching dummy while Mira was tinkering with something at her work desk. Both were very much oblivious to their short time guests.

Skinny’s room was fairly messy. There were 90s grunge band tour posters and old WWE advertisements, along with torn out magazine centerfolds of women that Nora covered her eyes from, on the walls and ruined converses and flannels on the floor. Skinny herself was lying asleep on top of a pile of debris that neither Nora nor Emerald could really make out what it was comprised of in the middle of the room. 

The next room over was Carnelian’s and it was a lot different than either of them expected. Her room wouldn’t have looked out of place to a tomboy Nora’s age, with the random sports posters and equipment decorating it being a testament to that assessment. At that moment, however, Carnelian appeared to be reading one of the many mangas Amethyst collected. They heard a gasp and a string of Japanese just as they got through the other side, proving to them just how engrossed the gem was in her reading. 

Ocean and Chip, like Rogue and Mira, shared a room. However, instead of being separated for each of their preferences, it was like a luxury hotel’s honeymoon suite. The center was taken up by a heart shaped hot tub, plump pillows and fluffy blankets taking up one corner and another corner containing a stack of equally plush towels. There was no bed that could be seen though there did appear to be some weight training equipment, but that was all that belied its clear romantic getaway theme. The two were snuggled up in a nest of the soft bedding material, the two holding each other close in silent companionship.

Star’s room was elegant yet simple and pink. Everything covered in those glowing sticker stars with one wall dedicated to displaying hundreds of weapons in an order only she knew. Star was examining them as they went through, pulling one down to test its weight and balance. Nora felt that just as she and Emerald were leaving that Star noticed them, but they were out in a flash and there was no sound of her following them to give them pause.

Pearl’s room wasn’t so much a room as it was mostly a giant waterfall with smaller fountains suspended above it, water pouring from them as well. In the center suspended a bit lower than the others was a slightly larger one of the smaller fountains where Pearl was doing an odd sort of dance with swords that lifted from the water around her. As much as Nora wanted to get to know this magical space more, as out of all of them it was by far the most interesting, the longer it took to get to Garnet the less chance she had to help or figure out what exactly was going on with the scroll.

Just below Pearl’s room, if you slid down one of the streams, was Amethyst’s room... that is if it could be called that. It looked more like a landfill, as covered in various piles of what could only be deemed as trash as it was, which wasn’t surprising. However, because of her being below Pearl’s waterfall and fountains, there was the occasional puddle. At the far end was tunnel made out of crystals. 

Without seeing Amethyst around, they take their chances and walk straight through to the tunnel and follow it the rest of the way, not seeing any more rooms as they do.  
\--  
By the wave of heat they felt upon reaching the end, Nora and Emerald could tell that they had arrived at their destination. The room itself was larger than most of the others and definitely cavernous, with none of the trappings of a place to relax. There were thin streams of lava in circular patterns that came from a pool on a platform in the center. All along the ceiling were veins that snaked their way from an anatomically correct heart shaped crystalline structure centered just above that pool. Entangled but not trapped in the veins were hundreds of bubbled gems floating listlessly above them. Nora took it all in with awe.

“So, this is where those monsters are being kept,” Nora murmured.

Emerald sighed, frowning up the bubbles, brows knitted in sorrow, “…yeah…”

“Why?”

“…it’s what’s best,” Emerald hesitated. “To make sure they won’t hurt anyone again.”

Nora nodded at this in autopilot, unnerved by both the room and the explanation. She didn’t have much chance to ask Emerald to elaborate before Garnet arrived. Luckily the two were relatively hidden from her sight. As Garnet walk towards the lava pool, the two of them leaned in. Nora pushed Emerald slightly out the way, trying to get a better view from her shorter vantage point. Still not seeing them from their spot, Garnet pulled out the scroll. 

Nora, now fully entranced by it once more, let out a soft exclamation of wonder.

“Woah…”

Unfortunately, as engrossed in the scroll and getting the answer she sought out, Nora didn’t notice that her footing slipped. She landed on the ground with a thud loud enough that the two of them were quickly discovered, Emerald at her side without hesitance.

“What are you two doing here?”

Nora winced, looking over in slight fear of Garnet as the gem leader hovered over the two of them. Before any other words could be exchanged, the scroll in Garnet’s hand leapt from it. In the next moment the scroll had shifted into a headless, humanoid shape with multiple arms that was maybe twice Garnet’s size and made of the same paper of the scroll that had been covered in multicolored doodles and eyes. 

Garnet shifted quickly to shield the two as she yelled at them, “Stay back!”

“But I can-”

Garnet leapt into action without looking towards them. “STAY BACK!”

Nora shrunk inward at the shout, backing away from the fight in now very clear fear. 

For a moment Garnet and the scroll were on even footing. Unfortunately, a stream of paper shot out of its back and grabbed one of Garnet’s legs. It pulled her in close, slowly wrapping her in a cocoon, all its eyes staring at her and all its hands hovering over her. No matter how hard she struggled, it was apparent that Garnet wasn’t going to be able to be freed before it could start tearing into her.

Both gems looked on at the sight in horror, struck stunned to where they stood. However, Nora managed to snap out of her shock first and started to charge before Emerald grabbed her arm. “Nora! No! You haven’t mastered summoning your shield, yet!” Emerald cried. Nora looked between Emerald and Garnet, torn from the decision she had to make.

“I-I know, but…” Nora focused on the creature. “It’s my fault this happened. Again. I’m going to try… no, I need to fix it.”

Emerald followed Nora’s eyeline, looking between Nora and the mutated scroll. She sighed, letting go of Nora, “Fine, but I won’t let you face this alone.” 

They exchanged equally anxious smiles before hardening their expressions, glaring down the paper monster even as it still reeled in Garnet.

“HEY, YOU STUPID WASTE OF PAPER!”

The scroll creature focused it gaze on the source of noise, Garnet’s visor the only thing visible in the cocoon. The two charged at the creature and it lunged in turn.

Nora tore into the paper, not caring about being hurt, just focused on the task at hand. As she did, Emerald freed Garnet from the scroll’s grasp. With Garnet freed and with the three of them working in tandem to overwhelm it, the thing was defeated. With one last punch, Garnet sent it flying into the lava pool. 

Now able to take a breath, the three of them panted with the effort. Even though Emerald and Nora took the most damage from it, Garnet was just as winded. After a moment the three exchanged glances, assessing any damage they may have superficially taken. And though Garnet’s visor obscured her expression, Nora could feel the pride behind it as they locked glances and shared a smile.

“Uh, is this a bad time?”

Pink and Bismuth were at the entrance, a few bubbled gem monsters floating around their hands. In reply, Nora simply laughed a nervous laugh.  
\--  
“That was a foolish thing you did. I’m impressed you managed to last that long.”

Bismuth, Emerald and Nora were at the forge. Bismuth’s main place of residence. Bismuth was tending to their minor injuries, three sodas amongst the first-aid box.

“I was only curious,” Nora grumbled. “I didn’t mean to disturb Garnet while she was dealing with… that…” She winced as Bismuth swiped over a particularly deep cut on her hand.

“Well, hey,” Bismuth said genially, “you’re alive. And who knows, maybe you’ll be back on the mission thing before you know it. Just not one as dangerous,” she winked.

Nora smiled weakly at that. As she sipped on her soda, Bismuth having finished with her, she noticed a few of bubbles inside the forge. There were about three of them, though one of the bubbles uncharacteristically contained multiple gems. She frowned and asked “Bismuth… if the burning room is meant to store gem creatures, why are there some in your room?”

Bismuth bit her lip, unable to look Nora in the eye. She rubbed her arm briefly before she answered with a weak smile, “Don’t worry about it, squirt. Doesn’t matter where they are so long as it’s safe. And I can’t think of anywhere safer, can you?” Nora nodded, though her eyes focused back on those gems, curiosity beginning to grow again. Bismuth placed her arms around Emerald and Nora, giving them a wide genuine smile. “Now c’mon, I know how uncomfortable Nora gets in here after a while…” she teased.

“It feels like an oven,” Nora complained just as exaggeratedly.

“…have you ever been in one to know that?”  
\--  
Pink walked towards the door. Her undamaged eye looked around the area, leery of someone watching. Seeing no one, she placed a hand onto the door. Right on Rose’s gem-lock. She closed her eye, gripping her necklace. The door opened and Pink walked inside, the room closing itself behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to Levaagrace for betaing for me. hope you enjoy c:.


End file.
